/dev/zero

I don’t mind being told I’ve made a mistake.
I don’t mind being asked to chang something.
I do mind being asked to change something, by being told I’ve made a mistake for doing it the way I was supposed to do it.

I’m running the sound and light for Labyrinth Theatre.
Yesterday was our “brush up” rehearsal. This happens mid-week when there aren’t performances, so the actors and crew can, well, brush up on what they might otherwise forget, going nearly a week without perfromance. Also the director can tweak things around a little bit.

I ran the sound and light cues precisely as I had been last instructed to do by the director, precisely as I had done in the first week of performances. She had “corrections” for almost everything. Not as in “I want to change that” but as in “That’s too loud. Turn it down!”
If you want to change a level, tell me “Gee, that’s too loud after all. Let’s take it down a bit.” not “Andrew! That’s too loud! Turn it down!”

And for the love of God, don’t tell me, during that gap between the last two sound cues, the one that lasts the better part of a minute because it’s a slow, quiet scene and the actor is taking his time, that “Hark, the Herald Angels is supposed to be playing here! Where is it???” Well, gee, the cue is Paul saying “I didn’t think so.” Did he say “I didn’t think so.”? I don’t think so! So, no sound. When he says the cue, I’ll play the sound, just like you told me to. Gee, you think it’s too quiet here? Fine, I can play the sound earlier if you want, but FRICKIN TELL ME YOU WANT TO PLAY IT EARLIER, don’t yell at me because I was waiting for the cue you last told me to wait for!